GCSE choices

Discussion and advice on GCSEs

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Eccentric
Posts: 738
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 8:58 pm

GCSE choices

Post by Eccentric »

Hi All,

My daughter is sure of all her GCSE choices. So she will be doing:

The core subjects Biology, Chemistry, Physics, English, Maths and Further Maths and maybe advanced maths (not sure the terminology is right),
She has picked French and History and Music but is not sure whether she should pick Geography or Religious studies as her other humanity. She gets equally good marks in both and finds them both interesting. She particularly likes R.S. because she is interested in religion and also in ethics and philosophy and because she says she likes to be able to voice her opinions.

I am slightly concerned about her taking R.S. because in my day it was seen as a soft subject and also I think she will have a large swathe of her education missing if she doesn't take geography. However I do want her to do what she wants for GCSE. A couple of friends have told her to take Geography rather than R.S. I was completely on the fence until people started saying that R.S. was not a real subject and that it wouldn't be looked upon as well as Geography by Universities. Dd wants to do a science related degree at Uni. What are the views of those of you who are in the know?

Many thanks
hermanmunster
Posts: 12815
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Re: GCSE choices

Post by hermanmunster »

From experience of 2 DCs.. one took Geog and continued it to Uni (also had to do half RS GCSE ... but hated it ) -

t'other took RS GCSE (an no Geog) , enjoyed it and found it v useful - particularly the ethiccs / philosophy. Currently applying for humantities PhD so lack of Geog has not caused a problem
loobylou
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Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2014 5:04 pm

Re: GCSE choices

Post by loobylou »

RS seems to be very popular even at A level at our school and does not seem to detract from good offers. Is there any chance that she will want to do some sort of Ecology type science degree? - I imagine Geography would be more useful in that case. Otherwise I would not have thought it makes any difference.
Guest55
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Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: GCSE choices

Post by Guest55 »

RS is not considered as a 'soft' option at all - I would have thought it complements the rest of her choices.
Daogroupie
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Location: Herts

Re: GCSE choices

Post by Daogroupie »

RS today is more like Philosophy than RS. Lots of puzzled parents do not understand their student's desire to do RS in this secular age. It does really need to be renamed.

It is quite challenging and the previous RS required a real marathon of questions in a very short amount of time, so easy to drop marks.

My dd loved it and continued it to A level but she did also do GCSE Geography as did my other dd who is doing Geography at A level.

This would have been a hard choice, elder dd would have probably chosen RS over Geography but younger dd would have chosen Geography.

From what you have said about your dd I think RS would be the right choice though it is a shame she can't do Geography as well. I did feel it was important for both dds to do Geography. DG
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: GCSE choices

Post by Guest55 »

DG - not everyone thinks Geography is a good choice. I don't think Eccentric's daughter should change anything to take it as well as RS.

Many take other routes like Graphics, Music, Drama, Textiles - all of which suit some children.

Once you cover the English, Maths and Sciences then you can't go far wrong with GCSE choices unles you plan to be a linguist.
Twinkle
Posts: 580
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 10:26 pm

Re: GCSE choices

Post by Twinkle »

Do check out the syllabus for RS for the board that your daughter's school uses. My son was very keen to do RS because he loved the philosophy he had been doing in RS classes in Years 7, 8 and 9. It turned out that there was little in the syllabus for the board his school was doing and so he decided to do Geography instead. He was told that if he wanted to do RS A Level ( which contained a lot of philosophy in the 6th form )the school would consider allowing him to do it without RS at GCSE.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: GCSE choices

Post by Guest55 »

Twinkle - the same argument applies to Geography - many schools allow it to be taken at A level without the GCSE.
quasimodo
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Joined: Sun Sep 07, 2014 2:47 pm

Re: GCSE choices

Post by quasimodo »

Twinkle wrote:Do check out the syllabus for RS for the board that your daughter's school uses. My son was very keen to do RS because he loved the philosophy he had been doing in RS classes in Years 7, 8 and 9. It turned out that there was little in the syllabus for the board his school was doing and so he decided to do Geography instead. He was told that if he wanted to do RS A Level ( which contained a lot of philosophy in the 6th form )the school would consider allowing him to do it without RS at GCSE.
Please also consider the geography course and the specification and the topics the school are likely to be studying and discuss with your child whether they will enjoy them. Also consider the practical aspects and the skills required.

I also understand one of the core subjects is English and I therefore presume this is English language and there is no English literature ?

Certainly at A level both Geography and RS are well regarded.

At GCSE neither can be considered to be a "soft" subject.From the exam results of websites of a number of schools it appears to me and it is a generalisation easier to get top grades in RS as compared to Geography although both seem to get many.
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

Abraham Lincoln
Twinkle
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Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 10:26 pm

Re: GCSE choices

Post by Twinkle »

I don't disagree G55. My boys' school allow geography to be taken at A level without the GCSE too. I was just making the point that the OP's daughter should look at the RS GCSE syllabus to check that it aligns with her interests bearing in mind our experience. She should of course do the same with geography too.
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